Security performance optimization of Nginx’s SSL handshake and certificate chain

With the development of the Internet, more and more attention has been paid to the security of websites, especially websites involving user privacy and sensitive information. SSL certificates have become one of the important measures to ensure website security. Nginx, as a high-performance web server, also supports SSL certificates. This article will introduce how to optimize Nginx's SSL handshake and certificate chain to improve the security performance of the website.

1. SSL Handshake

The SSL handshake is a very important part of the SSL/TLS protocol, which ensures that the communication between the client and the server is secure. The optimization of Nginx's support for SSL handshake can be achieved in the following two ways:

1.1 Enable SSL session reuse

SSL session reuse is a way to improve the SSL handshake by saving the SSL session ID and key. Efficiency technology. During the SSL handshake process, the client and server need to exchange certificates and perform encryption key negotiation and other operations. These operations will take up a lot of time and resources. Turning on SSL session reuse allows the client and server to directly use the previously established SSL connection in the subsequent SSL handshake process, avoiding repeated key calculations and handshake operations, thereby improving the efficiency of the SSL handshake.

It is very simple to enable SSL session reuse in Nginx. You only need to add the following instructions in the SSL configuration block:

ssl_session_cache shared:SSL:10m;
ssl_session_timeout 5m;

Among them, ssl_session_cache specifies the method and name of the SSL session cache, here A shared memory cache is used and a cache size of 10M is specified. ssl_session_timeout specifies the expiration time of the SSL session, which is set to 5 minutes here.

1.2 Select the appropriate SSL encryption suite

During the SSL handshake process, the client and server need to choose an encryption algorithm to protect the security of communication data. The security and efficiency of different encryption algorithms are different, so choosing a suitable SSL encryption suite can improve the efficiency and security of the SSL handshake.

In Nginx, you can use the ssl_ciphers directive to specify the SSL cipher suite, for example:

ssl_ciphers ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384:DHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES128-GCM-SHA256:kEDH+AESGCM:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA256:ECDHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES128-SHA:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA384:ECDHE-RSA-AES256-SHA:ECDHE-ECDSA-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES128-SHA:DHE-DSS-AES128-SHA256:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA256:DHE-DSS-AES256-SHA:DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA;

A set of higher-security SSL cipher suites are selected here, including ECDHE, DHE and AES encryption algorithm.

2. Certificate Chain

The SSL certificate is an important part of establishing an HTTPS connection, and the certificate chain is one of the keys to SSL certificate verification. In order to improve the security of the certificate chain, Nginx supports the following two optimization methods.

2.1 Using the HTTP/2 protocol

The HTTP/2 protocol is a new network protocol that uses the TLS/SSL protocol at the transport layer and can directly enable TLS encryption. Using the HTTP/2 protocol can avoid man-in-the-middle attacks and SSL certificate tampering, further improving the security of the certificate chain.

In Nginx, enabling the HTTP/2 protocol is very simple. You only need to add the following instructions in the SSL configuration block:

listen 443 ssl http2;

Among them, http2 specifies that the server uses the HTTP/2 protocol.

2.2 Install the certificate chain

The SSL certificate is issued by a digital certificate authority (CA). The certificate chain includes the SSL certificate authority's certificate and intermediate certificates, etc., which can prove the SSL certificate. Authenticity and integrity. To increase the security of the certificate chain, it is recommended to install the complete certificate chain on the server.

Installing the certificate chain in Nginx is very simple. You only need to put the certificate chain file in the specified location:

ssl_certificate /path/to/fullchain.pem;
ssl_certificate_key /path/to/privkey.pem;

Among them, fullchain.pem is the complete certificate chain file, and privkey.pem is The private key file of the SSL certificate.

In short, Nginx’s SSL handshake and certificate chain are very important components to ensure website security. By optimizing the SSL handshake and certificate chain, you can improve the security performance of the website and prevent man-in-the-middle attacks and SSL certificate forgery. threaten.

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